Ludogorets lose first leg to APOEL Tel Aviv in Conference League qualifier

Ludogorets Razgrad opened their UEFA Conference League qualifying campaign with a 2-0 defeat to APOEL Tel Aviv on July 23. The match was played not in Israel but in the Hungarian city of Miskolc, with the second leg still to come.

A season without the Champions League

Gong reports that this is the first time in 14 years that Ludogorets will not compete in the UEFA Champions League. That means one bad two-legged tie ends the club's European season. The pressure heading into Miskolc was considerable.

New head coach Thomas Rice, a German manager who guided Turkish side Samsunspor through the Conference League group stage last season, was only 11 days into his tenure when the match kicked off. He was also without several players. According to Gong, new signings Mihail Polendakov, Nathan and Hosam Abdelmagid were not registered in time, while Eric Marcus and Caio Vidal were sidelined through injury.

How the goals went in

Rice said after the match that the opening 20 minutes were reasonably solid defensively, but the team gave APOEL too many chances and created too little going forward. The damage came late. Gong describes the second goal, scored in the 89th minute, as a free-kick that goalkeeper Bonman parried, with the rebound coming back off the post before defender Chico turned it in to make it 2-0.

Bulgarian international midfielder Andrian Kraev started for APOEL, lining up against the club from his home country. Gong covered Kraev's involvement separately, noting the unusual dynamic of a Bulgarian player helping to defeat Bulgaria's top club.

Rice looks ahead to the second leg

Speaking after the final whistle, Gong reports that Rice acknowledged the result was not good but pointed to his short time in charge, the injury absences and the registration issues. He said the squad made too many simple mistakes and conceded too easily from crosses, and identified defending set-pieces and building attacking quality as areas to address before the return match.

Ludogorets face a two-goal deficit going into the second leg. The Conference League is UEFA's third-tier European club competition. A loss on aggregate would end the club's European campaign for the season.